The children above are from The Crossover International Academy in Ghana. You would say they've lost almost everything in life. Abandoned by those who would normally bring up children when they need someone most, they were discovered leading their lives as child labourers, orphans, rescued trafficked children, etc They lovingly call me Auntie Josie and love my poems. Without a charity who gave them a computer and the internet, they would not be able to reach out to the world, or read my poems which they love.

I first heard of these children when an email arrived: "Dear Auntie Josie" and I was told that the children of this school had adopted me and loved my poems and "could the children perform Mr Worm, wearing African dress and with African drums, because African children love to perform." The email came from their wonderful teacher and adopted father to them all, Dave Lee.

National Poetry Day here in the UK, October 2013, had the subject of "Water". I wrote a poem for you all for this day, as I always do. When you read "The Most Precious Gift" what did you do? The children of the Crossover School, Ghana, learned it off by heart. They had to study the words well before doing this. It wasn't easy for them as they haven't had the schooling that most of you have had and English is their second language. They had a reason for learning this poem. They have been sponsored by The Pegasus School in Huntingdon, California this year, a wonderful thing for any school to do for children who have nothing in life. You will see from the film below that The Pegasus School raised money for them to have water filters so that the water they drink, carried from the river in buckets, will be clean for them to drink. We take it for granted that the water that we drink is clean. Imagine what it would be like to drink water that was impure. So the children learned my poem "The Most Precious Gift" by heart and three children performed this poem, adding actions to their performance, and they sent their filmed performance to The Pegasus School as a thank you. Saying "thank you" for water seems strange to the children of England, I'm sure, when they've had a winter of floods and incessant rain, but in a country where there is not much water, "thank you" comes readily to mind, I'm sure. I hope you like their film.

February 2018: Since I wrote the above, the children now have been given a school and have beds to sleep in, but their teacher said that the 253 original children had grown in number to 400, and he said that they could easily have taken another 400 if they had room. Perhaps some of you who are reading this might like to raise some money to help with little presents etc for these children. I know they'd truly appreciate it. You can see from the Valentine Card that I'm truly loved by children who have been abandoned and yet given a small chance in life. Josie